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Hospital mergers are on the cards, alongside multi-million pound budget cuts, as NHS chiefs battle to plug the gap.

A new hospital in Ellesmere Port to replace Arrowe Park, Clatterbridge and the Countess of Chester is one of the cost-cutting measures reportedly being discussed by NHS bosses, according to a leaked memo, although this has since been denied.

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And the Royal Liverpool, Broadgreen, Aintree and Liverpool Women’s hospitals could also merge as the city’s nine NHS trusts face £167m of cuts over the next five years.

But Mr Hunt was relaxed about the looming crisis when quizzed in the House of Commons by Wallasey MP Angela Eagle .

Ms Eagle told Parliament: “The (NHS) in Merseyside is reputed to be tackling a £1bn deficit and the way that it’s decided to tackle this in Wirral, in my area, is to develop plans to close Clatterbridge, our cancer hospital, to close Arrowe Park, our acute hospital, to close the Countess of Chester and to create some new hospital some time in the future in Ellesmere Port.